EXCLUSIVE: 'Shazam!' Director David Sandberg Dishes on Bringing the DC Hero to the Big Screen: 'It's Very Fun'

by Zach Seemayer
10:09 PM PDT, August 07, 2017

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EXCLUSIVE: 'Shazam!' Director David Sandberg Dishes on Bringing the DC Hero to the Big Screen: 'It's Very Fun'

Up-and-coming horror director David F. Sandberg will soon be helming DC's Shazam!, and the 36-year-old filmmaker says he's looking forward to bringing the relatively obscure superhero to the big screen.

"It's very fun, lighthearted movie," Sandberg told ET's Ash Crossan at theLos Angeles premiere of his latest film, Annabelle: Creation, on Monday."It's about a kid who gets to become an adult superhero, so that's just gonna be so fun to explore."

Shazam! -- which tells the story of a young boy named Billy Batson, who is given the power to become the adult superhero Captain Marvel and battle the forces of evil with the use of a magic word -- is planned as primarily an origin story, and will likely be an introduction to the hero for many moviegoers.

"To be honest, it was not a superhero I grew up with either. When I grew up in Sweden, there wasn't a lot of Shazam around," Sandberg explained. "So it's someone who I've learned to love later in life as well,so I can relate to [people who are] new to Shazam. I think [it] might be a good thing that I'm doing it, because I know what you need to learn."

Boarding the DC blockbuster is an interesting directorial choice for Sandberg, who is known for his work in the horror genre, helming films like Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation.

The filmmaker seems to be following in the footsteps of fellow fright master James Wan, who gained fame as the director of Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring but is now directing the upcoming Aquaman film.

"I kind of don't want to give too much away but know this: The spirit that I'm going for is like a classic sort of swashbuckling action adventure, sort of high seas adventure story," Wan shared. "It's ultimately a quest story in the spirit of Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Romancing the Stone."